Basil Garlic Tart Dough #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

This is a beautiful, light green, and very flavorful tart dough that comes together easily in a food processor or just as easily when mixed by hand. We use it for a fresh tomato and mozzarella tart. I’ll post the recipe for the tart Friday, 8/30/24. Well-wrapped, the dough will keep for a week in the refrigerator or a month in the freezer. If you freeze it, defrost it in the refrigerator rather than on the counter.

Basil Garlic Tart Dough

(adapted from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop)

 

Ingredients

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

1 garlic clove

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 8 to 10 pieces

4-5 tablespoons ice water

 

Directions

Put basil and garlic in the work bowl of your food processor. Process until finally chopped, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Add flour and salt to the work bowl and pulse several times to combine.

Add butter to the work bowl. Pulse until mixture resembles pea-size crumbs. 

Add water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing several times after each addition. After adding 3 tablespoons, process dough for several seconds to see if it’s coming together in a ball. If not, add another tablespoon and check again. You may or may not need a 5^th tablespoon of water. When the dough seems to be coming together, continue processing until it comes together into a ball.

Remove dough from the work bowl and flatten into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Take dough from refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it’s an inch bigger around than the rim of your pie or tart pan. Use for a fresh tomato and mozzarella tart (recipe coming Friday 8/30/24) or any other savory pie or tart for which a basil garlic crust sounds good.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.